Appeals court temporarily blocks Jan. 6 committee from obtaining Trump White House records

A federal appeals court on Thursday granted a request from former President Donald Trump to temporarily block the National Archives from turning over his White House records to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

The committee had been set to receive the first batch of documents, which lawmakers say is key to their investigation, on Friday. In papers filed with the appeals court Thursday, lawyers for Trump asked the court to temporarily delay the turnover and “maintain the status quo” while they push ahead with an expedited appeal.

In a brief unsigned order with no noted dissents, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia granted Trump “an administrative injunction” late Thursday, and set arguments for the case on Nov. 30.

The order was issued by Judges Patricia Millett, Robert Wilkins and Ketanji Brown Jackson, all appointed by Democratic presidents. Millett and Wilkins were appointed by former President Barack Obama. President Joe Biden appointed Jackson.

Courts often issue these types of injunctions to allow more time to consider the underlying issues. The order was not a ruling on whether Trump or the House committee has a stronger legal argument.

“The purpose of this administrative injunction is to protect the court’s jurisdiction to address appellant’s claims of executive privilege and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits,” the judges wrote on Thursday.

Trump has tried to claim executive privilege over the scores of memos, e-mails, and records of White House conversations and visits, and contends the records should be kept secret “in perpetuity.”

Biden has disagreed, and said the National Archives should release the records.

White House counsel Dana Remus told the National Archives in a letter obtained by NBC News that the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol was “the most serious attack on the operations of the Federal government since the Civil War,” and that Trump’s efforts to keep Congress in the dark about what happened “is not in the best interests of the United States.”

“Accordingly, President Biden does not uphold the former President’s assertion of privilege,” Remus wrote.

Trump’s request to the appeals court was not opposed by the House committee or the National Archives.

Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied a request from Trump’s team to “maintain the status quo” earlier this week, noting that that “the status quo in this case” is that the National Archives will disclose the documents on Nov. 12 “absent any intervening court order.”

Her ruling was one of a trio she issued this past week refusing Trump’s demand his records be kept secret.

“At bottom, this is a dispute between a former and incumbent President. And the Supreme Court has already made clear that in such circumstances, the incumbent’s view is accorded greater weight,” she wrote in a separate 39-page ruling.

“Plaintiff does not acknowledge the deference owed to the incumbent President’s judgment. His position that he may override the express will of the executive branch appears to be premised on the notion that his executive power ‘exists in perpetuity,’” she wrote. “But Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.”

Trump has also argued that certain witnesses who have been subpoenaed by the committee should not have to answer questions because of executive privilege as well. One of them, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, is the subject of a criminal referral to the Justice Department for refusing to cooperate at all.

In a statement earlier on Thursday, a lawyer for former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows suggested his client would challenge the committee’s requests.

“Contrary to decades of consistent bipartisan opinions from the Justice Department that senior aides cannot be compelled by Congress to give testimony, this is the first President to make no effort whatsoever to protect presidential communications from being the subject of compelled testimony,” attorney George Terwilliger said. “Mr. Meadows remains under the instructions of former President Trump to respect longstanding principles of executive privilege. It now appears the courts will have to resolve this conflict.”

Ken Dilanian contributed.

source: nbcnews.com